Students Attend Thurgood Marshall College Fund Anniversary Event

PRINCESS ANNE, MD-Students from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore were among the 600 students enrolled at 47 public HBCUs that recently attended the 22nd annual anniversary weekend and gala in New York City.

This year's theme, "TMCF at 22: Lighting the Path for Tomorrow's Leaders," celebrated the achievements of the country's foremost visionaries, activists and organizations that use their status to affect positive change in their communities.

Hosted by actor Danny Glover, the gala was the pinnacle of the weekend's annual activities, which included a Leadership Institute Recruitment Conference and Career Fair, a fashion show and an awards ceremony. The weekend also serves as the organization's largest annual fundraiser. Glover announced that a record $6.2 million was raised at this year's event to assist in leadership development, development of programs, scholarships and capacity-building for the HBCUs.

"Our supporters dedicated their resources in spite of lean times to show their commitment to the future of America," said Dwayne Ashley, president and CEO, Thurgood Marshall College Fund. "Their gifts will have an immediate impact on investing in the national need to produce leaders."

"Student leaders from UMES attended a selection of several workshops each day geared toward preparing them for internships related to their fields of study," said Aundra Roberts, UMES Honors Program assistant and the university representative accompanying the students. "The offerings this year were for STEM majors, which includes science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and for education majors."

"This is the first year that they have invited education majors to be part of this conference, since it has traditionally been focused around majors that will enter into the corporate world," said Phylicia Gibbs, a senior mathematics education major at UMES. "We learned about equity among students, lesson planning, classroom management and many other issues that are faced in the classroom. It was an incredible experience that reinforced that education is the career in which I want to be."

Gibbs is president of the UMES Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, president of the New Orleans Education Project, has served as an ambassador for the Thurgood Marshall Teacher Quality and Retention Program, is a senior editor for the "In Honor Words" newsletter and has served as a student hostess for the UMES Gala.